Nightreadings: Essays on Finnegans Wake II.2

Finnegans Wake II.2., which is commonly known as “Nightlessons,” is allegedly one of the most obscure chapters of the Wake, but it is also one of the richest, meriting a focused investigation of the text. This volume brings together an eclectic group of Joyce scholars to examine various important aspects of “Nightlessons” from a variety of theoretical approaches including gender studies, textual genetics, environmental humanities, and digital humanities. The volume returns to the essential concerns of scholarship on the chapter— the children’s lessons, the chapter’s themes and intertexts, the logic of the marginalia, and Joyce’s process— while introducing fresh perspectives that represent current scholarly trends. Challenging long-held assumptions about “Nightlessons” as impenetrable, the volume illuminates the chapter as a rich and rewarding Joycean text for both seasoned readers of the Wake and anyone interested in twentieth-century literature.